Just Watched

Witness: Gunman was firing off shots

Story highlights

One woman who thinks she won't survive calls mom to express love, he says

Isla Vista community is a densely populated quarter for student housing

In 2001, a motorist killed four people by running them over in Isla Vista

It all seemed like a Friday night prank in the beachfront paradise of Isla Vista, the off-campus housing quarter for students from University of California at Santa Barbara and the local community college.

The pops sounded like firecrackers, a common mischief.

And the gun looked fake, like one used for pellet games.

But what seemed like a college joke at first became very real.

Sienna Schwartz saw the gunman driving by her and thought he was a hoaxster -- until she felt the whoosh of a bullet passing her skin.

It was the second time that a mass killing has occurred in the unincorporated community in 13 years; the other one also involved a motorist.

Friday night's violence couldn't have picked a more beautiful college setting.

Beachfront beauty

UCSB is renowned as a school on the beach, and as such, it's one of the most scenic campuses in America, caressed by cool Pacific breezes.

Just 100 miles from Los Angeles, Santa Barbara attracts weekend crowds seeking a getaway. Its main street features boutiques and eateries in stylish Spanish-mission architecture.

Isla Vista is the adjacent residential quarter for students mostly enrolled in UCSB and others at Santa Barbara City College. The community sits on beachfront bluffs just west of UCSB and offers off-campus apartments where students commonly double up in one bedroom.

In fact, Isla Vista holds legend status as the most densely populated square mile in California, though the county says its size is actually a half-square mile, or 320 acres.

Officially, Isla Vista is an unincorporated community of 20,000 people -- 13,000 of them are students -- in Santa Barbara County, the county says.

The streets prove the student presence: they're lined with bicycles.

Friday night's mass shooting occurred on an weekend evening when Isla Vista is typically jammed with students moving shoulder-to-shoulder from one party to another.

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town 21 photos

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – Jose Cardoso pays his respects Sunday, May 25, at a makeshift memorial at the IV Deli Mart, where part of a mass shooting took place, in Isla Vista, California. Elliot Rodger, 22, went on a rampage Friday night, May 23, near the University of California, Santa Barbara, stabbing three people to death at his apartment before shooting and killing three more in a nearby neighborhood, sheriff's officials said. Rodger also injured 13 others and died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.

Hide Caption

1 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – A man places flowers on the lawn of the Alpha Phi sorority house in Isla Vista on May 25. Two young women -- Katherine Cooper, 22, and Veronika Weiss, 19, -- were fatally shot outside the house Friday night.

Hide Caption

2 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – Students gather for a candlelight vigil at the University of California, Santa Barbara, on Saturday, May 24.

Hide Caption

3 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – Two students comfort each other during the candlelight vigil to honor the victims of Friday night's mass shooting in Isla Vista.

Hide Caption

4 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – People gather at a park in Isla Vista for the May 24 vigil.

Hide Caption

5 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – IV Deli Mart owner Michael Hassan, second from left, cleans up his store with employees May 24 as onlookers gather outside one of the shooting scenes. Student Christopher Martinez, 20, was getting a sandwich at the deli when he was fatally shot.

Hide Caption

6 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – University of Santa Barbara, California, student Derrick Hayes gets emotional outside the IV Deli Mart on May 24 in Isla Vista.

Hide Caption

7 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – A police officer inspects the gunman's car on May 24 after the killing spree in Isla Vista. The suspect, described as mentally disturbed and possibly bent on retribution, sprayed bullets from his car in a rampage called "premeditated mass murder," Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies said.

Hide Caption

8 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – A Santa Barbara County deputy sheriff walks along the street May 24 near a shooting scene in Isla Vista.

Hide Caption

9 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown speaks at a press conference regarding murder suspect Elliot Rodger on May 24. All the weapons used in Friday's rampage "were legally purchased" and registered to the suspect, Brown told reporters.

Hide Caption

10 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – Flowers are placed in a bullet hole in the window of a delicatessen in Isla Vista on May 24.

Hide Caption

11 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – Richard Martinez, father of victim Christopher Martinez, breaks down as he talks to media outside the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office. "Our family has a message for every parent out there: You don't think it will happen to your child until it does," the visibly emotional parent said.

Hide Caption

12 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – An investigator speaks on a cell phone while examining the gunman's car.

Hide Caption

13 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – A woman looks at the bullet holes on the window of the deli where part of the shooting spree took place in Isla Vista, California.

Hide Caption

14 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – Flowers are left on the sidewalk of the IV Deli Mart in Isla Vista, California.

Hide Caption

15 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – Two women comfort each other Saturday near the scene of a shooting. Seven people also were being treated in a hospital for gunshot wounds or traumatic injuries, a sheriff's office spokeswoman said.

Hide Caption

16 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – A Santa Barbara County deputy sheriff checks out the black BMW sedan driven by the suspected shooter. The gunman died from a gunshot wound after his car crashed, police said. It was unclear whether the fatal head wound was self-inflicted or the result of a firefight with police.

Hide Caption

17 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – The car of the alleged shooter at the crime scene Saturday. Isla Vista is the residential quarter for students mostly enrolled in UCSB and some in Santa Barbara City College. The community sits on beachfront bluffs just west of UCSB.

Hide Caption

18 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – The crime scene in the aftermath of the shooting.

Hide Caption

19 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – Broken glass at the shooting scene Saturday. Authorities said there were multiple crime scenes.

Hide Caption

20 of 21

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town21 photos

Deadly rampage in California college town – Fire trucks are parked outside an Isla Vista mart Friday night after the deadly rampage. The shootings occurred in a crowded area bustling with activity on Memorial Day weekend.

Hide Caption

21 of 21

EXPAND GALLERY

On Saturday morning, however, the community was a massive crime scene.

Pizzerias, delis, cafes and convenience stores downtown were lined with yellow police tapes zigzagging everywhere -- because the drive-by gunman apparently fired upon several places while in motion.

Bullet casings lay scattered on the street, and storefront windows were shattered.

2001 mass killing

As grisly as it was, the setting wasn't the first time that Isla Vista has known a mass killing, especially by a motorist.

In 2001, David Attias, son of film director Daniel Attias, ran over five people in Isla Vista, killing four of them, and exclaimed he was the "angel of death."

Attias was convicted of four murders in 2002, but a jury later ruled him not guilty by reason of insanity. Attias was then sent to a California mental hospital.

Summer Young said she was walking down the street and heard what sounded like fireworks set off by students. "People get stupid out here sometimes," she said.

But the pops were gunfire, and the car passed her, she learned.

"He was just firing up shots," Young said.

Another witness, Cayla Bergman, a UCSB student, also described the bangs as fireworks. "We're used to loud noises around here," she said.

But then the crowds went into a panic.

"A bunch of people from outside just started running into the store," Bergman said.

Sorority bloodshed

Kyle Sullivan, 19, a student at Santa Barbara City College, came upon three young women -- all shot -- on a lawn in front of the Alpha Phi sorority, located in a cluster of Greek houses in Isla Vista.

One woman appeared to be dead. Another was struggling and "just barely able to move her eyes." A third, wounded in the kidney and arm, was on the phone with her mother, telling her she probably wasn't going to make it and "how much she loved her," Sullivan said.

"It was a huge shock last night," Sullivan told CNN in an interview on the sorority lawn, reconstructing events. "I really wasn't able to sleep at all. It was heartbreaking, that something would happen in our community like this."

Nikolaus Becker, a graduating high school senior who was visiting Isla Vista, was eating a burger in a restaurant when he and friends heard pops, thinking they were fireworks. Other students were doing homework inside the eatery.

"We were actually joking around about it," he said of the popping. "People were riding their bikes around outside, and parties were still going on."

Then Becker and friends heard two more sets of bangs -- with police running. They also saw a speeding car -- moving at 50 mph, screeching around a corner.

"Nobody knew what was going on, and everybody was kind of scared to go outside," Becker said.

When he finally went outside a half hour later, Becker saw body bags on the street.

Colleges ache

Both colleges expressed sympathies Saturday. They are now coordinating counseling and student support services.

"Our hearts are aching as we learn about the tragedy that unfolded in Isla Vista last night," a Santa Barbara City College statement said Saturday. "We know our students co-mingle with UCSB students and Isla Vista residents as part of our greater community and we all, as an extended family, are impacted by this unimaginable event."

UCSB is providing temporary housing for displaced students.

"Our campus community is shocked and saddened by the events that occurred last night in the nearby community of Isla Vista," a university statement said.